Scott Harshbarger, former CIA Director and US President George Bush, and self-admitted government assassin D. Gene Tatum as Defendants in a far-reaching case involving US Government - sanctioned drug smuggling, murder and cover-up.

Bill Tyree is currently serving a life sentence for the murder of his wife - a case eerily similar to that of Dr Jeffrey MacDonald, a Fort Bragg doctor who was framed for the murder of his wife and children in the early 1980s.

"In the mid-1970s, while serving in Panama, Tyree and other Green Berets were led into Colombia under the command of Green Beret Colonels Cutolo and Baker to plant radio beacons, so that planeloads of cocaine could fly below Colombian and US radar and land undetected in Panama," writes former LAPD officer Mike Ruppert in his newsletter, From the Wilderness (PO Box 6061-350, Sherman Oaks, CA 91413, USA, website www.copvcia.com).

"Orders for these missions came from the CIA's Ed Wilson and Tom Clines," continues Ruppert. "Tyree had been a part of many secret missions and was losing his taste for it. His wife was keeping a diary [for which she was presumably murdered, after which the diary was confiscated and later disappeared].

"Five Special Forces Colonels - Cutolo, Baker, Malvesti, Rowe and Bayard - have died under mysterious circumstances since. The heart of the Tyree documentation consists of an affidavit allegedly written by Colonel Cutolo, who was also Tyree's commanding officer at Fort Devens, Mass., at the time of Tyree's arrest. Both were then with the 10th Special Forces.

"That fifteen-page document gives precise details of CIA drug operations using Special Forces personnel. It also describes how Tyree was framed for the murder of his wife and how Special Forces personnel were used to intimidate and conduct illegal electronic and physical surveillance of anyone who might expose CIA drug dealing," Ruppert concludes.

NO LEGAL FUNDING FOR FEMA

According to the actual complaint in the lawsuit: "...the Plaintiff [Tyree] alleges that the Defendants CIA and George Bush were negligent and failed at the conclusion of Operation Watchtower to monitor the post-Watchtower events and seek legal congressional funding for the origination of FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency), and this failure led to the concealment and cover-up of Operation Watchtower, written about in the diaries of Elaine Tyree, seized illegally and turned over to Colonel Carone and then to the CIA which ensured that the Operation Watchtower drug trafficking operation would remain covert, allowing the drug profits from this Operation to be used to circumvent Congress and fund FEMA and continue the pattern of criminal activity."

Colonel Carone, who died in 1990, was a CIA paymaster and Mafia-connected money launderer, who incidentally held the rank of full colonel in Army Intelligence. As Oliver North's bagman, Carone also couriered large amounts of cash in and out of the country.

According to former Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) investigator Rodney Stich, "Carone had complex relationships". In his underground bestselling book, "Defrauding America" (www.defraudingamerica.com), Stich writes that Carone was a member of the Gambino family, had connections to other crime groups in the eastern part of the United States, was a detective on the New York City vice squad, a member of the military and a CIA operative.

Stich writes: "Dee [Ferdinand, Carone's daughter] said her father was a detective and 'bag man' in the New York City police department, collecting money that was distributed to captains and inspectors as payoffs for 'looking the other way' where drugs were involved...

"Referring to CIA - Mafia drug trafficking, she said she knew from what her father said that the drugs coming from South America went to the Colombo, Genovese and Gambino families, and that it was a joint CIA - Mafia drug operation under the code name Operation Amadeus," continues Stich. "She said that during World War II, Operation Amadeus was involved in transporting Nazi officers from Germany into South American countries. According to her father's notes, Operation Amadeus split into several other operations, including Operation Sunrise and Operation Watchtower."

In the lawsuit, Tyree alleges that CIA and George Bush were negligent by allowing the stolen diaries of Elaine Tyree to be used to further cover up "Operation Watchtower, which was one of several illegal drug operations that produced a profit which was used in turn to help originate and implement FEMA" (p. 23).

It is further contended in the lawsuit that CIA and George Bush violated the "separation of powers, [i.e.,] the Executive Branch brought about an agency (FEMA) which has the authority to suspend the US Constitution (e.g., further suspending legislative and judicial branches), but is vague in its verbiage as to what does constitute an emergency, and fails to list what, if any, duties the legislature and judiciary will have to perform if the US Constitution is suspended" (p. 23).

Even though the origin of FEMA has remained historically unclear, Tyree alleges in the lawsuit that FEMA, created by Executive Order, is illegitimate "since Congress had to approve FEMA for two specific reasons: (1) FEMA is a vaguely written Executive Branch - created agency that has the power to suspend the US Constitution and put the legislative and judicial branches of government out of work; (2) FEMA is an Executive Branch creation that clearly affects all three branches of Government capable of silencing the voice of the people (i.e., legislative) and the legal redress of the people (i.e., judiciary)".

FEMA was allegedly created by Executive Order 12148, which became law simply by its publication in the Federal Registry. In other words, Congress was bypassed for FEMA's authorisation as well as its funding. But if Congress never authorised the agency, where do operational expenses come from? Tyree's lawsuit alleges that laundered drug profits were the initial source of FEMA's funding.

According to the lawsuit: "...the Plaintiff [Tyree] alleges the Defendants CIA and George Bush did intentionally engage in the complained-of conduct herein to conceal: (1) the origins of FEMA, and that profits from drug trafficking by the CIA were used in some part to originally fund FEMA and the drafting of the FEMA infrastructure..."

An even more astounding allegation in the lawsuit is that Colonel Carone told Tyree himself that "Colonel Ollie North worked on developing a plan, known as FEMA, which would in an ill-defined national emergency allow the US Military to take control of the United States to ensure National Security". Colonel Carone said that "FEMA" originally stood for "Federal Emergency Military Action" (i.e., martial law), but was retitled "Federal Emergency Management Agency" because it would be better received by the people of the United States.

The late Colonel Carone also claimed that he "took drug profits that were clean and laundered in 1982 - 1984 to the following: NSC - Colonel Oliver North, who used the funds to create and develop FEMA" (p. 88 of the lawsuit).

COLONEL OLIVER NORTH AND FEMA

Oliver North's role in the creation of FEMA should be better known. In a book called "Guts and Glory: The Rise and Fall of Oliver North", author Ben Bradlee, Jr, writes:

"North's work for FEMA - from 1982 to the spring of 1984 - was highly classified, and some would say bizarre. During that period, the Miami Herald reported, he was involved in helping to draft a sweeping contingency plan to impose martial law in the event of a nuclear war, or less serious national crises such as widespread internal dissent, or opposition to an American military invasion abroad.

"The plan - which also gave FEMA itself broad authority to report directly to the President, appoint military commanders and run state and local governments [Executive Order 11490] - ruffled many administration feathers," continues Bradlee.

"North would also play a role in helping FEMA stage a national emergency simulation exercise [on] April 5 - 18, 1984... Rex-84 Bravo, authorised by President Reagan's signature of National Security Decision Directive 52, was predicated in his declaration of a state of national emergency concurrent with a mythical invasion (code-named Operation Night Train) of an unspecified Central American country, presumably Nicaragua.

"...Rex-84 Bravo was designed to test FEMA's readiness to assume authority over Department of Defense personnel, all fifty state National Guard forces and a number of 'State Defense Force' units which were to be created by state legislative enactments. FEMA would 'deputize' all DoD and state National Guard personnel, so as to avoid violating the federal Posse Comitatus Act which forbids using any military forces for domestic law enforcement," writes Bradlee.

In the lawsuit, Tyree quotes Colonel Carone's testimony that "FEMA was one of those off-the-shelf creations that was funded through the giant black-operations fund which came about from drug-trafficking operations instituted by the CIA, which Congress has no idea of and no control over" and that "the FEMA Chain of Command, rules and regulations that he had seen, violated the US Constitution and actually established a succession to the Office of the President in the event of an emergency that circumvented the Vice President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives".

According to the lawsuit: "Carone said, 'NSC [National Security Council] used drug trafficking profits to start FEMA without congressional approval ...a 1981 NSC Directive written by Frank Carlucci [states]: "Normally a state of martial law will be proclaimed by the President. However, in the absence of such action by the President, a senior military commander may impose martial law in an area of his command where there had been a complete breakdown in the exercise of government functions by local authorities."'

"Colonel Carone said a literal interpretation of the 1981 NSC Directive was that a local yokel National Guard commander could institute martial law, and the actions of FEMA, without local citizens ever knowing how FEMA came to be or what FEMA was originally intended to be about, would automatically be triggered without any type of presidential order," it is alleged in the lawsuit.

"Congress doesn't even have the purse strings on this one," Carone said. "It's all from the Black Operations fund which Congress will never force the US Intelligence Community to admit even exists."

Incidentally, according to criminal conspiracy investigator Sherman Skolnick, Representative Henry Hyde of Illinois has been handling this fund for the CIA and has done an "admirable" job in keeping it under wraps, completely removed from public scrutiny.

According to Tyree, Carone also said that unindicted drug conspirator Oliver North's role was admitted in his own diary (p. 91 of the lawsuit):

"You want the diary of Oliver North [said Carone]. Inside that diary is your whole case. It will tell you that he knew of drug trafficking even if he wasn't involved directly, which is what he will claim. I remember one entry from May 12, 1984, to the effect that he knew one of his contacts was trafficking drugs. Another entry from July 20, 1984 basically stated that there was cargo offloaded at the ranch of John Hull. The cargo that was offloaded was cocaine. I recall seeing an entry from August 9, 1985, that a specific aircraft was being used for drug trafficking. Then there was an entry from either September 9 or 10, 1985, in which Ollie North, through Colonel James Steele, used a Special Operations Unit brought in by Wally Gresheim and Litton. Get his diary."

None dares call it fascism, of course, but due to this explosive lawsuit by a framed American serviceman, Bill Tyree, the origin of FEMA and its illegal funding may finally be known.

II. THE GREAT AMERICAN FRAME

SPOOKY PARALLELS: THE TYREE & MACDONALD COVER-UPS

When criminals in government are about to be exposed, a story is concocted which uses some of the facts, mixes it with lies, and obscures the rest. This disinformation is then spread throughout the media and - voila! - a cover-up is born. With Hollywood connections, a TV movie is produced. This new dose of fiction then becomes irrefutable "fact" in public memory.

Just so, there are significant parallels between the murder case of former Green Beret Bill Tyree and Dr Jeffrey MacDonald. Both involve CIA/military drug smuggling crimes and cover-ups. Both men were set up and convicted. Both men have been languishing in prison for 20 years.

The story of emergency physician Dr Jeffrey MacDonald, framed for the murder of his wife Collette and children Kimberly and Kristen in 1970, remains a tragedy. Author Joe McGinnis wrote a best-selling book, Fatal Vision, which was made into a TV movie of the same name in 1984.

The real story is the frame-up of an innocent man who had powerful enemies. It's described in great detail by Jerry Allen Potter and Fred Bost in "Fatal Justice: Reinvestigating the MacDonald Murders" (W.W. Norton & Co., 1997).

However, as Errol Morris, director of The Thin Blue Line, writes: "If you think you know the Jeffrey MacDonald case from Fatal Vision, think again. Fatal Justice is the first account of the whole story."

An investigator in the MacDonald case, former LA FBI Special Agent in Charge Ted Gunderson, obtained a signed confession from Helena Stoeckley, "the girl in the floppy hat", who told him that the group she was involved with "was active in an international drug operation that involved US Army personnel, including Army officers, police officers and at least two local attorneys" in the Fort Bragg area. According to Time magazine (January 1, 1973), heroin was being flown into the United States from the Far East in plastic bags hidden in the body cavities of dead GIs.

According to Gunderson, members of this group "...tried to shake down Dr MacDonald because he was abusive to those who overdosed on drugs in the civilian hospital where he was moonlighting... The assailants [of MacDonald's family] were high on drugs and the situation escalated to the murders. Their intentions to shake down Dr MacDonald were not known or approved by the leaders of the drug operation. When it was realized by the leaders that members of their network committed these murders, they were concerned that an investigation of the cult would expose the drug operations - thus the cover-up and 'framing' of Dr MacDonald."

Gunderson has written his own summary of the facts in The Doctor Jeffrey R. MacDonald Investigation (contact Gunderson International, PO Box 18000-259, Las Vegas, NV 89114, USA). Evidence, such as fingerprints, was intentionally destroyed by Army CID (Criminal Investigation Division). Other evidence, like a bloody syringe, bloody clothing and boots, was lost. More crucial evidence was never collected. Then allegations of FBI Crime Lab corruption surfaced through FBI whistleblower Frederick Whitehurst.

Michael P. Malone, an FBI forensic specialist who testified in the MacDonald case, was exposed by the Inspector-General's report. "Mr Malone has indeed testified falsely and outside his expertise," reported the Wall Street Journal of April 16, 1997. "In 1987 and 1988, Florida appellate courts overturned guilty verdicts - citing insufficient evidence - in cases in which Mr Malone had testified for the prosecution," the article continues.

In addition, an internal FBI memo written in 1989 alleged that Mr Malone had given 27 instances of false or misleading testimony in the 1985 proceedings that led to the impeachment and ouster of former US District Judge Alcee L. Hastings.

Was it just sloppy work or outright fraud? The evidence shows that FBI Crime Lab work cannot be trusted. In MacDonald's case, Malone's testimony alone should have been grounds for a mistrial.

In Psychic Dictatorship in the USA (Feral House, 1995), author Alex Constantine also weighs in on the MacDonald case. "Fatal Vision is a political hit piece," he writes. "The paperback indictment of MacDonald has reinforced the public perception of MacDonald's guilt, and kept dormant one of the most unconscionable scandals in American military history.

"Three suspects in the murders have confessed. MacDonald's version of events has been confirmed by some 40 witnesses... Fatal Vision is myopic in its exclusion of any evidence that might clear MacDonald. McGinniss's claim to impartiality eroded completely in his flat refusal in 1980 to even look at the 1200-page report compiled by MacDonald's defense attorneys. The report, taken together with the sworn depositions of witnesses, press accounts and interviews with investigators, combines in a case sharply at odds with the government's.

"MacDonald passed a polygraph," writes Constantine. "He submitted to five independent forensic examinations. The government's own lab specimens link Fort Bragg's body-bag [drug-smuggling] ring to the crime scene, including a long, synthetic blonde strand corroborating MacDonald's contention that Stoeckley wore a blonde wig the night of the murders. A bloody syringe found in his home was 'lost' by the prosecution."

The case of William Tyree is just as complex, convoluted and byzantine. Tyree was in the Army Special Forces and also convicted of his wife's murder. An Arts & Entertainment channel documentary, Murder at Fort Devens, revealed evidence that he was also framed to conceal CIA/military drug trafficking. Tyree says that, as early as 1975, drugs were flown into Panama and were subsequently shipped to Mena, Arkansas - a state described as the CIA's own "banana republic" inside the United States.

According to Rodney Stich, author of Defrauding America, the CIA utilised the Army Intelligence Agency in Operation Watchtower which began in the mid-1970s. US Colonel A. J. Baker was ordered to oversee part of Watchtower, and turned the operation over to Colonel Edward P. Cutolo who also commanded the 10th Special Forces based at Fort Devens, Massachusetts.

"...Cutolo, who had been ordered by the CIA to supervise Operation Watchtower, grew increasingly concerned about its flagrant illegality, and conducted an investigation in an attempt to bring it to a halt," writes Stich. "Fearing he might be killed because of the investigation, he prepared a fifteen-page, single-spaced affidavit dated March 11, 1980, describing the CIA drug trafficking and other activities... Cutolo was killed, as were several other people working with him to expose the drug trafficking operations...

"The affidavit described the installation and operation of the radio beacon towers [to guide airplanes bringing in drugs] and several of the drug flights in which he participated."

Relevant to the Tyree case itself: "The Cutolo affidavit described the killing of an Army servicewoman, Elaine Tyree, who had knowledge of Operation Watchtower which she described in her diary. To shift attention from the actual killer and his connection to the ongoing drug operation, the military charged Tyree's husband with the killing," Stich writes.

This affidavit stated: "It was too risky to allow a military court to review the charges against Pvt Tyree..."

"At the first military hearing, the presiding judge found no reason to bind Pvt Tyree's husband over for trial for the murder of his wife," continues Stich. "This decision risked further investigation and possible exposure of the corrupt operation. Army pressure caused the county prosecutor to indict the husband for murdering his wife, even though the Army knew the actual killer was someone else. The Cutolo affidavit stated:

'On 29 February 1980, Pvt Tyree was convicted of murder and will spend the duration of his life incarcerated. I could not disseminate intelligence gathered under Operation Orwell [a surveillance operation directed against US politicians] to notify civilian authorities [of] who actually killed Elaine Tyree.'"

Murder at Fort Devens featured Judge James Killam, who initially dismissed the case against Tyree, saying: "I didn't believe a word the prosecution's chief witness said. He had the skills to do a decapitation." The judge was referring to Green Beret Earl Michael Peters, who was present when the murder was committed. Forensic evidence and witness testimony show that Tyree was not present, and that Peters was probably the real killer.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Bill Tyree by his attorney, Ray Kohlman, states that the Plaintiff is seeking US$63 million - $21 million for each year of incarceration and $42 million in exemplary damages - and is also seeking an injunction against the CIA from engaging in further illegal activities, as well as a new trial.

Bill Tyree, Dr MacDonald and many others, like former FBI Special Agent Richard Taus, have been falsely arrested, convicted and imprisoned. What's new? Unlike the wrongfully imprisoned and recently released former Black Panther, Geronimo Pratt - who did 27 years for a murder he didn't commit - they are still political prisoners in the American Gulag.

It's called "Doing time for the CIA's crimes". After all, even the spooks make jokes that "CIA" stands for "Criminals in Action".

III. SECRET HISTORY: Dead Men Do Tell Tales

The lawsuit by former Green Beret William Tyree against the CIA et al. is a work of art, a masterpiece of legal reasoning and an important historical source document. Why? Because, for the record, it contains first-hand knowledge and revelations by the late US Army Colonel Al Carone of a far-reaching criminal conspiracy, namely, US Government drug smuggling, money laundering, murder and cover-up. Carone's information, corroborated with evidence from other sources, reveals a dark history of the United States that has been neglected by mainstream historians and censored by the Mega-Media Cartel.

First, the lawsuit questions the constitutionality and legality of so-called "Executive Orders". According to the lawsuit, Executive Order #12333, for example, authorised the "privatization of intelligence and covert operations and permitted agencies other than the CIA to conduct 'Special Activities', thus effectively opening the door, previously closed [by the National Security Act of 1947], to the White House National Security Council Staff or even private entities/assets, i.e., third-party cut-outs, to carry out covert operations".

In plain language, this means that the CIA could subcontract or "farm out" its drug smuggling and assassinations to third-party personnel and continue to enjoy its "plausible deniability" status, i.e., denying any knowledge of or involvement with criminal activities.

According to the lawsuit, Tyree claims his false imprisonment was due to the theft of his murdered wife Elaine's diaries - which contain evidence that would have exonerated him in his trial.

"Colonel Carone, either as a CIA asset/entity or as a CIA employee, did receive the diaries of Elaine Tyree in 1979," reads the lawsuit. "Colonel Carone became aware of the information that was listed in the diaries that related to Operation Watchtower and the illegal surveillance operation in New England/ Massachusetts. Colonel Carone turned the diaries of Elaine Tyree over to the CIA for security reasons, in an effort to conceal the drug operation Watchtower and the subsequent surveillance operation that took place in New England/Massachusetts.

"Through Dee and Tom Ferdinand [Carone's daughter and son-in-law], the Plaintiff [Tyree] learned for the first time in August 1995 that Colonel Carone had in fact been in possession of the diaries of Elaine Tyree and had subsequently travelled to Langley, VA, to drop the diaries off at the CIA."

The diaries of Mary Pinchot-Meyer (JFK's mistress and the ex-wife of CIA operative Cord Meyer) also mysteriously disappeared following her (unsolved) murder in 1964. Nina Burleigh's book, A Very Private Woman (1998), appears to be a cover-up, or at least a "limited hangout", concerning the life and death of Pinchot-Meyer. Did Mary Pinchot-Meyer, like Elaine Tyree, know too much? More importantly, did they document the Agency's illegal "fun and games"?

ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER: BILL TYREE'S STORY

According to the lawsuit: "[Tyree] took part in a US Army - CIA Operation Watchtower which brought cocaine out of Colombia into the US air base, Albrook Air Station, Panama, where the planes (not US Air Force planes, but planes of other Latin American countries and some unmarked airplanes) landed and offloaded the cocaine while the mission commander Colonel A. J. Baker and Colonel Noriega, among others, looked on."

"...in February and March 1976, a second and third Watchtower operation took place under the command of Colonel Edward Cutolo, and more cocaine was brought into Albrook Air Station, Panama. [Tyree], who was also involved in a non-volunteer capacity as Crew Chief on a US Army helicopter, saw CIA Officer Edwin Wilson, CIA Officer Frank Terpil, CIA Asset/Officer Colonel Albert V. Carone, and Israeli Colonel Michael Harari.

"In late 1976, Colonel George Bayard, US Army, CIA Middle East Expert, contacted US Army Special Forces Colonel Edward Cutolo and James N. Rowe and told them that Operation Watchtower was not a sanctioned US congressional operation, and he had found out this information through a Middle East Intelligence contact associated with a bank known as BCCI.

"In 1977, Colonel Bayard went to Atlanta, Georgia, to follow up on a lead, and contacted Colonel Rowe from Atlanta. Colonel Bayard was murdered in Atlanta after he spoke to Colonel Rowe, and that murder remains unsolved...

"In October 1977, Tyree arrived at the 10th Special Forces Group Airborne, Ft Devens, Massachusetts, and the Group Commander was Colonel John Shalikashvili."

On December 31, 1977, Bill Tyree married Elaine. She was an avid diarist who had been keeping detailed notes on all the illegal activities she was observing. On January 30, 1979, Elaine Tyree was murdered. Judge James Killam III entered a written decision that SP4 Earl Michael Peters killed Elaine Tyree and that "Pvt Aarhus assisted SP4 Peters in killing Elaine Tyree".

In a bizarre string of events: "...on June 6, 1979, in an unprecedented decision from the Single Justice of the SJC [Supreme Judicial Court], not only did the SJC strike down all criminal charges against Peters, but issued the order which forbids any court in Massachusetts from issuing criminal process against anyone in the Elaine Tyree homicide unless authorised to do so by the SJC," according to the lawsuit.

"After Erik Aarhus stood trial for the murder and was convicted and sentenced to life in prison, Tyree himself went on trial and was convicted without testimony of Erik Aarhus on February 29, 1980."

A pretty good frame, if you can get away with it.

ELAINE TYREE'S DIARIES: TO DIE FOR?

In August - September 1996, former Army CID investigator Bill McCoy introduced Bill Tyree to Dee Carone-Ferdinand, the daughter of Colonel Carone.

According to the lawsuit, after a two-year-long correspondence by phone, a stunning breakthrough occurred in the case when "...Dee Ferdinand at a point notified the Plaintiff [Tyree] that she was the daughter of Colonel Carone, and said: 'My father had the diaries that belonged to your wife Elaine. He went to Langley, Virginia, to drop them off with "the boys". That's what he said. I read some of the diaries, or at least the parts that my father showed me. I saw the photograph in the front of the diaries that was of you and your wife.'"

Unfortunately, in 1997, CW4 William H. McCoy was found dead in his home, Virginia, and was immediately cremated before the medical examiner could determine the cause of death.

According to the lawsuit, McCoy told Tyree: "No matter what happens, if I die and you're not sure what I died from, have my family get an independent medical examiner to check me out. Be sure. Give me your word."

McCoy, after all, was concerned that people just seemed to drop dead after they delved into the CIA cocaine operation at Mena, Arkansas. Among the dead were Stanley Huggins, Kevin Ives, Donald Henry, Keith McCaskell, Greg Collins, Jeff Rhodes and Richard Winters. Or they got "suicided" - like writer Danny Casolaro, attorney Wilcher and NSA Colonel Vince Foster. Etcetera. Etcetera.

FIGHTING COMMIES WITH DRUG PROFITS: AL CARONE'S STORY

"The CIA had predicted a large communist build-up in Latin America in the early 1970s," Carone told Tyree.

"Operation Watchtower was initiated to pre-position drugs in Panama/Central America from South America to fund covert actions against the predicted communist threat. The prediction became reality and the flow of cocaine into the United States increased as a result of the prediction. The American people wouldn't sufficiently fund a covert action anywhere, following Vietnam, for the amount of money which was needed. The cocaine couldn't be moved into the United States until an avenue was established that took the CIA out of the picture, because the CIA was already busy fending off allegations of trafficking drugs out of Southeast Asia and Europe, and the CIA couldn't be tied in to the Latin American cocaine at all.

"Once Ronald Reagan became President," Carone continued, "his oldtime friend William Casey, the head of the CIA, was able to convince him to sign Executive Order #12333 into effect, which...took the CIA out of covert operations business..., authorized the use of private assets/entities to be used by the National Security Council to conduct covert operations including the drug [smuggling]... Allowing private assets and entities to do the dirty work meant the CIA could do whatever it wanted to do, in or out of the United States..."

In other words, EO #12333 privatised CIA's drug smuggling, making the Agency even more insulated from discovery of its criminal activities.

"You had NSC staffers that were tied right into the drug trafficking themselves, like Ollie North," Carone said, continuing his history lesson. "Hell, his diary had everything in it. Between his diary and your wife's [Elaine Tyree's] diaries, the whole thing is blown. Totally compromised.

"I remember seeing him [North] write over 200 entries in his diary that related to major drug profits being used to buy weapons for the Contras," continued Carone. "The diary of Ollie North alone would prove what I've told you and show the violation of 50 USC - 403 and everything."

North's diary, for example, contained the following entry: "July 5, 1985 - $14 million to buy arms came from drugs."

Unindicted drug kingpin Oliver North is still free, while William Tyree has served 20 years in prison. Why? Because corrupt officials in the CIA, Department of Defense and Department of Justice continue the cover-up.

Colonel Carone told Tyree that "Operation Watchtower provided cocaine that was sold to finance anti-communist operations in Latin America because the US Congress has shut down general funding of anti-communist activities in that area", while heroin trafficking by the CIA in Southeast Asia was used to fight communism there.

Selling drugs to fight communism has to be one of the biggest ironies of the 20th century.

"At the CIA there were a few people in the right positions who blamed the decline of American culture on people of color living in the United States," said Carone. "The blame of the fall of American culture began with the creation of the National Security Memorandum 200, which stated among other things the concern of overpopulation in the United States. Many at the CIA attributed it to the birthrate among people of color, and there were some at the CIA that felt that physical slavery could be replaced by pharmaceutical slavery, and that's why African-American gangs, i.e., 'Bloods' and 'Crips', were singled out for distributing the drugs brought into the United States by the CIA."

Carone also told Tyree that he had "...delivered money to the Los Angeles - based gangs, i.e., the Bloods and the Crips, which are among the most violent African-American gangs in the United States. He had delivered money to the gangs because they were on the CIA payroll Executive Order 12333 which allowed for the CIA to hire outside sources to help the CIA perform their jobs. He had delivered money to the gangs because they transported drugs across the United States, i.e., Atlanta, Norfolk, Philadelphia, New York and Boston."

Despite documented evidence by government whistleblowers, the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Justice (DoJ) have never been held accountable for their collusion in and/or acquiescence to drug trafficking. On March 15, 1999, however, class action lawsuits were filed by attorneys , William M. Simpich and Kenneth Frucht on behalf of Rosemary Lyons and Olivia Woods in northern California and Donna J. Warren and Berlina M. Doss in southern California (Case No. 99-02603).

The suit names the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States Department of Justice, Estate of William Casey, Robert Gates, John Deutch, George Tenet, Estate of William French Smith, Edwin Meese, Richard Thornburgh, Janet Reno and others as Defendants, alleging that these US Government agencies and employees were responsible for the 1980s crack cocaine epidemic and the resulting social and economic devastation of inner city communities.

According to the Statement of Facts: "On March 16, 1998, CIA Inspector-General Frederick Hitz appeared before the House Intelligence Committee to report on his investigation of the CIA, the Contras and crack cocaine. Hitz testified that, beginning in 1982, the CIA entered into an undisclosed agreement with the Department of Justice, allowing CIA officers to refrain from reporting drug trafficking by its 'agents, assets and non-staff employees'. Hitz admitted that 'there are instances where the CIA did not, in an expeditious or consistent fashion, cut off relationships with individuals supporting the Contra program, who were alleged to have engaged in drug trafficking activity, or take action to resolve the allegation'.

"When asked by Congressman Norman Dicks of Washington, 'Did any of these allegations involve trafficking in the United States?', Hitz's answer was 'Yes'. Hitz acknowledged that the CIA knew of drug trafficking allegations 'regarding dozens of individuals and a number of companies connected in some fashion to the Contra program or the Contra movement'.

"Hitz recounts in Volume II of the Inspector-General's Report dated 10/9/98 that through the secret agreement, the CIA and DoJ attempted to exempt the CIA from reporting about the drug trafficking of persons employed by, assigned to, or acting for an agency within the intelligence community."

Since the CIA itself admitted to having knowledge of its own "assets" being involved in illegal activities, the argument seems to be indisputable.

"Plaintiff claims that the CIA/DoJ agreement violated a federal statute, 28 USC -535," the lawsuit alleges, "which imposes a duty on every department and agency in the Executive Branch to report promptly to the Attorney General any information, allegations or complaints relating to possible violations of [criminal law] by officers and employees of the government."

In other words, if federal agency employees are aware of violations, these must also be reported. There is another category of criminal code violation called "misprision of felony", which refers to the offence of concealing knowledge of a felony by one who has not participated in it. CIA officials could be charged with this as well.

"The private CIA/DoJ agreement attempted to get around this federal law by redefining the term 'employee' to mean only full-time career officials - as opposed to persons 'employed by, assigned to, or acting for an agency within the intelligence community'. In addition, the secret agreement violated Executive Order 12333 issued in 1981, which required the reporting of drug crimes."

The suit also states that the 1989 Kerry Report ("Drugs, Law Enforcement and Foreign Policy") made specific findings that "drug trafficking had pervaded the entire Contra war effort, that 'one or another agency of the US Government had information regarding the involvement either while it was occurring or immediately after' and that 'senior policy makers were not immune to the idea that drug money was a perfect solution to the Contras' funding problems'".

A LTTLE HISTORY, PLEASE

"In the opening phase of the crack cocaine epidemic, between 1982 and 1986, CIA officers and other intelligence agencies received reports regarding Bay Area cocaine importers Norman Meneses and Danilo Blandon," the class action lawsuit alleges.

"Both of these men were among the primary importers in the United States and dominated the market on the West Coast. Because of the secret CIA/DoJ agreement which purported to exempt the CIA from having to report drug crimes, cocaine suppliers connected with the Contras or other US covert operations were able to import their 'unregulated product' under the cloak of national security.

"Meneses and Blandon funneled vast quantities of cocaine, at a price far lower than other suppliers, to 'Freeway Rick' Ross, who proceeded to flood south-central Los Angeles with a new, low-cost product dubbed 'crack'. By 1984, Ross was selling 150 kilograms of cocaine every week, enough to put 3,000,000 doses of crack on LA's streets every seven days.

"The crack cocaine epidemic enveloped Los Angeles between 1982 and 1986. Government documents show that the CIA and DoJ knew or should have known of the massive importations by Meneses, Blandon and other cocaine supplying operations," the lawsuit continues.

"Common sense and a review of the news coverage for that period indicate that these agencies knew or should have known that their ongoing policy of deliberate silence allowed the crack epidemic to rage unchecked. The CIA turned its back while shipment after shipment of this new, intensely addictive form of cocaine was delivered to one of Ross's five cookhouses and then put up for sale throughout south-central Los Angeles and Compton. The result was the death of men, women and children, the collapse of businesses and the destruction of whole neighborhoods.

"Once the initial southern California market was glutted, crack moved north. Mid-level dealers diverted the flow to other African-American communities in California, such as East Palo Alto, San Francisco, Oakland and Richmond. The consequences to these communities, in terms of loss of life, family structure and economic power, continue to this day."

The lawsuit categorised two classes of plaintiffs: (a) inner city residents of northern and southern California (Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo counties), "largely African-American, who experienced particular economic, physical and/or emotional injuries arising from the neighborhoods hardest hit by the crack cocaine epidemic, such as addictions to crack, death or absence of loved ones due to drug-related crimes, reduction of income and increase in the number of dependents", and (b) "residents of the metropolitan areas of the counties listed above who experienced injuries suffered by the community as a whole, such as lack of safety, overburdened social services, loss of local businesses and damage to the tax base".

CIA/ DoJ LIABLE FOR CRACK EPIDEMIC

According to the lawsuit's Theory of Causation, "the signatories of the CIA/DoJ secret agreement - Attorney William French Smith and CIA Director William Casey - and their successors, agencies and agents are legally liable for the pipeline of crack cocaine which inundated California urban centers from 1982 to 1986, and for the after-effects which continue to the present day".

"Smith, Casey, their successors and their agents knew or should have known that failing to report crimes would interfere with law enforcement agencies' efforts to halt the importations of cocaine," the lawsuit continues, "and that this would ultimately result in a 'crack epidemic' involving addiction, death, increased crime, higher taxes, exhaustion of social services and destruction of businesses. The outcome followed the well-known pattern of opium in China and heroin in the United States which similarly devastated low-income urban communities."

"The proof of the harm which ensued is based on official statistical evidence from city and county budgets, public health departments, hospitals, police departments, courts and jails. In addition, individual plaintiffs and witnesses will testify concerning the injuries they sustained due to the crack epidemic."

This class action suit against the CIA demands a jury trial and no specific dollar amount for damages, but certainly "money to rebuild the community and to fund drug treatment".

"To a large degree, we tried to take it [the lawsuit] verbatim from government docs," said one of the lead attorneys, Bill Simpich of Oakland, California, in a recent telephone interview.

"We're trying to use this case as a floor," he continued, "so we can start with this very stark premise: the CIA had a written agreement with the DoJ, starting in 1982, that they did not have to report trafficking. The critical issue here is the admission that they had a written policy not to report, and then 'let the chips fall where they may'. They can offer any explanation they want - and none of them are good."